"Honkyoku and sankyoku."

Kitahara Kōzan II
Ocora Radio France - C 560070
1995

Track	Title	Kanji	Length	Artist
1	Hachidan no Shirabe	八段の調	09'47
	The title of this piece "Hachi dan" ("Eight sections") refers to its being composed according to the traditional "section" (dan) rule. There are 104 beats in each section, grouped into 52 two-time measures; to the first section are added a few supplementary measures to serve as an introduction. The composer, Joshu Yatsuhashi, founded his own school and established the standards of some 17th century musical forms, such as the Kumiuta (vocal suite), and the Danmono (instrumental pieces, to which the present piece belongs), as well as the chords for the instruments involved. The piece presented here can be played as a solo of koto, or as a duet involving either koto and shamisen, or two koto. The latter formation is presented on this disc.
2	Kokû (Fudaiji)	虚空	06'37	Shakuhachi: Kitahara Kōzan II
	Vacuity This piece is considered as one of the most ancient in the repertoire for shakuhachi. Its title identifies it as a musical evocation of Sunyata (Vacuity). As he plays, the musician tries to attain a state of selfless detachment where he is no longer enslaved by this material world, although not yet liberated from it, and he strives to merge with the universal consciousness. This shows how much the artists playing shakuhachi were committed, through music, to their quest for spirituality.
3	Shin-Kinuta	新砧	12'23
	This anonymous piece belongs to the Kinuta form, (which means "fabric fulling"), like others such as Godan-kinuta, Sandan-kinuta, etc. Its title originates from the repertoire of No theatre, and refers to the love of a wife for her husband, who has been gone three years to deal with legal matters in the Capital. The shamisen depicts her, working at fulling fabrics while she waits for his return, and describes her feelings, while the koto evokes through a single, sustained note, both the long wait and the repetitive rhythm of her work. This piece has been conserved and passed down by the Yamada school. It comprises four sections, and requires considerable technical skills from the instrumentalists, which is why it is now less frequently played at concerts.
4	Zangetsu	残月	22'42	Shakuhachi: Kitahara Kōzan II
	Moon at Dawn This type of pieces is derived from songs from the Kyoto and Osaka regions, accompanied on the shamisen, called Jiuta ("fundamental songs"). At the end of the 18th century, the instrumental part in these pieces was gradually given more importance; it expanded in order to highlight the musicians' technical skills, and was given the name Tegoto ("manual thing"). This "Zangetsu", composed by Mitsuzaki, is one of the best examples of Tegoto style. The first of the songs expresses the composer's with that his wife, who has died prematurely, may now live in the Capital of the Moon, and the second song evokes how quickly time has passed since she died.
5	Iwashimizu	岩清水	09'56	Shakuhachi: Kitahara Kōzan II
	The composer of this piece, T. Nakao, founded the Tozan school in 1904, the same year the Russian-Japanese war broke out. "Iwashimizu" was strongly inspired by the spring that flows in the garden of the Iwashimizu Shinto temple in Osaka, where the composer used to go ever since he was a child. He expresses in the music the feeling of deep peace that he used to experience there. This piece forms, with two others called "Kogetsu-cho" and "Kangetsu", a triptych that is considered as one of the most difficult works of the Tozan school, especially with regards to its spiritual content.